Poker money management
While there are many different money management systems players can use that are geared towards casino games. We want to provide you with a few simple and general guidelines that you can apply to many poker games.
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Our Goal in this section is to open your eyes to the concept of having a precise plan of what to do with your money that will best allow you to avoid a few common mishaps that regularly happen to poker players of all skill levels. In order to get there, we will establish a few key concepts that all poker players need to constantly be aware of in order to have the right mindset while playing poker. Then we will explain why poker is gambling to some and why it is a game of skill to others and tie these concepts together to show how having a good money management system is required in order to make poker a game of skill for you.
1. A fundamental step in a successful, long-term, money management plan is honesty. That means honesty about every penny that ever comes from your pocket and ends up on a poker table, and exactly what happens to it, including if and how you won or lost. Try to hammer this thought into your head: Any time you make a mistake, you lose money in the long run, even if you may have actually won some money once from that mistake. Start viewing winning poker as a long string of correct decisions, and the money will come on its own.
2. Now that our main goal is to play winning poker rather than to make some money by gambling, the saying "Don't bet the house" becomes very important. Obviously, you shouldn't play with money that you cannot afford to lose, simply because you don't want to be put into life-compromising situations. But there is another reason to not play with money that you can't afford to lose, and it is this: You will not play your best if you are worried about losing the money in front of you.
3. Have Enough Money on the Table
One mistake that people regularly make is sitting down at a table without enough money ON THE TABLE. For example, if you sit at a $100 max buy-in, no-limit table with $50, you are putting yourself at a significant disadvantage in a couple of ways. The first disadvantage is that you are not allowing yourself the opportunity to bluff. Having more chips in a no-limit game and knowing how to push people around is one of the most effective ways of adding to your stack at a poker table. The second disadvantage is that you aren't allowing yourself to win as much money when you have the best hand.
4. In both no-limit and limit games, we recommend to treat each session only in terms of the session itself. In other words, stay at a game as long as the game is good for you. DON'T let your bankroll tell you when you stay or leave. ONLY leave a table if the game becomes unfavorable to you.
5. If you plan on playing tournaments, we advise you to choose an amount of money as a buffer for your bankroll and then to choose a single table tournament buy-in as your base. For example, you might choose $100 as your buffer and $10 single-table tournaments are your base buy-in. So now, if you are ever at or below $100 for your total poker bankroll, then you ONLY ALLOW YOURSELF to play $10 or less buy-in SINGLE TABLE TOURNAMENTS. If your bankroll is above $100, then you can play any tournament you want of any buy in at all, unless buying into that tournament will bring you below your buffer (which again in this example is $100).
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Remember, the key to having a money management plan is to minimize the negative effects of losing money. After all, as discussed above, you can't play your best poker if you are afraid to lose the money you're playing with OR if you are trying to win back money that you have just lost.
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